Violence and media ethics

THIS refers to an incident that has left me and my family badly shaken. On Sept 7 some major and small TV channels in Karachi aired ‘breaking news’ about a body that was discovered in a gunny bag on the premises of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Without any authentication, these channels identified the body as that of Dr Nadeem Rizvi, the head of the chest department at the JPMC.

Can you imagine the horror of a sister who reads this news scrolling on the TV screen? It is unbelievable that any news channel, big or small, had the audacity to air such horrible news without making sure of its accuracy.

These channels should not only be penalised but their licences revoked.

If it was here in the US, I would have personally sued every channel which aired this untrue news.

It scares me to think what kind of media we are running! Is that what the free media is all about, to report incorrectly for the purpose of getting higher ratings. For heaven’s sake, think about the families of the people watching the news.

I request the authorities concerned to look into this and revoke the licences of the channels which are responsible for this. They give a bad name to honest journalism.